Earnhardt and Hendrick come from the same place

MOORESVILLE, N.C. -- It began amid the dirt roads and tobacco farms of South Hill, Va., moved to the short tracks scattered around North Carolina's textile country, and culminated Wednesday in a sparkling, modern building on the outskirts of Charlotte. Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick always seemed destined to work together, from the moment decades ago when the driver's grandfather showed the future team owner how to put a hood scoop on a Chevelle.

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It shouldn't be all that surprising. Earnhardt's announcement that he would drive the next five years for Hendrick Motorsports sent tremors through a fan base that has often viewed Hendrick ace Jeff Gordon as public enemy No. 1. But the reality is that Hendrick has served as something of a surrogate father to Earnhardt since the day his blood father was killed in a crash at Daytona. The reality is that Hendrick helped Earnhardt's sister Kelley find a doctor when she was struck with a pancreatic ailment. The reality is that Hendrick offered Earnhardt advice and guidance after the driver announced his impending split from Dale Earnhardt Inc. last month.

And the reality is that there's no better place for Earnhardt than Hendrick Motorsports, the NASCAR juggernaut which has won six titles in the sport's premier series and 10 of 14 races this season. It was where he wanted to end up all along, and it came about because of Earnhardt's personal relationship with Hendrick -- who employed his grandfather, had the trust and respect of his father, and has been a constant presence throughout much of the driver's life.

"Even when I was thinking about my decision to leave DEI, his main concern was just my well being," Earnhardt said at JR Motorsports, his Busch team. "He had no other motives or any intentions other than trying to help me in any way so I would be as happy as I could be at the end of the day. That was one of the things I never forgot, and I will probably remember for a long time about Rick. When it comes down to business, he's a smart businessman. But he genuinely cares about the people who are his friends or his employees, and he takes care of them. That was a big deciding factor for me."

They seemed such opposites on Wednesday -- Hendrick, overseer of the most fastidious race team in NASCAR, in his usual starched, white button-down-collar shirt; and Earnhardt, cleanly shaven (for once), icon of the rock and roll and racing lifestyle, in an untucked shirt over blue jeans. But deep down they are more alike than different, two people who share a common ancestry that goes back to one man in a small Virginia town. (Continued)